The conventional electronic zigzag sewing machines for home use has a laterally swingable needle, and a workpiece can be fed in forward and backward direction by means of a feed dog mounted on a workpiece supporting table of the sewing machine. The needle amplitude and the workpiece feeding amount will be controlled responsive to stitch control data of the selected stitch pattern which is read out from a memory in each stitch. A loop taker mounted within the workpiece supporting table is rotated in synchronism with vertical reciprocation of the needle to form a stitch composed of upper and lower threads as in a well-known manner.
The needle amplitude will, however, be limited to the order of 7 mm in actual machine design since the needle must enter a thread loop formed around the loop taker. The workpiece feeding amount in each stitch will also be limited due to efficiency of the feed device. Consequently, the conventional sewing machine will not be suitable for producing embroidery stitches.
Another type sewing machine especially adapted to produce embroidery stitches has also been provided, which has an embroidery frame for accomodating and supporting a workpiece and means for shifting the embroidery frame in any direction. This sewing machine will, in turn, not be applicable to normal stitching operation. This sewing machine will require a powerful torque force and thus an expensive motor for shifting the embroidery frame.